Microsoft’s DocumentDB Joins Linux Foundation: Implications for Open‑Source Databases
Microsoft announced that its PostgreSQL‑based DocumentDB project will become a Linux‑Foundation‑led open‑source effort, detailing its origins, recent MongoDB compatibility, community support, and the strategic reasons behind the donation.
Lead: Microsoft’s open‑source strategy is back, this time with DocumentDB.
On August 25, Microsoft announced that its DocumentDB project will join the Linux Foundation, becoming a Linux‑Foundation‑led effort.
DocumentDB is a PostgreSQL‑based NoSQL database system whose development began in January 2025.
Originally built internally at Microsoft to provide high‑availability JSON storage, it has evolved into a distributed database designed for large‑scale document workloads.
Since its release it has attracted about 1.9 k stars and hundreds of contributors, feedback, and users.
It started as two PostgreSQL extensions supporting the popular BSON data model and document queries; with a newly added gateway protocol conversion layer it now offers MongoDB compatibility.
Microsoft explains that donating the project to the Linux Foundation will help establish standards for document databases (similar to ANSI SQL for relational databases), give all database vendors a common development platform, and that an open‑source Postgres implementation will be preferred over forked versions.
“With DocumentDB and the Linux Foundation we are opening a path to an open, interoperable, and standardized document database that blends NoSQL flexibility with Postgres reliability,” said Microsoft Vice President Kirill Gavrylyuk.
As part of the migration, a new GitHub organization was created as the central hub for development, issues, and discussion, and a Discord server was launched for community members to communicate directly with the technical steering committee.
Numerous companies already support the project, including AWS, Cockroach Labs, Google, Microsoft, Rippling, SingleStore, Snowflake, Supabase, Ubicloud, and Yugabyte.
Spencer Kimball, co‑founder and CEO of Cockroach Labs, said: “PostgreSQL’s versatility and scalability have stood the test of time. The open‑source DocumentDB project lets developers familiar with MongoDB get started quickly, making it a great addition to the Postgres ecosystem.”
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